Metal slide magazine



Dec. 17, 1968 D. SCHWEERS 3,416,250

METAL SLIDE MAGAZ INE Filed March 23. 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet l IIIIII'ILQIII Dec. 17, 1968 K. D. sHwEERs 3,416,250

METAL SLIDE MAGAZ INE Filed March 23, 1966 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 "llHh.

izmi kw-b INVENTOR.

SCAM/E6196 Dec. 17, 1968 K. D. SCHWEERS 3,416,250

METAL SLIDE MAGAZINE I I IIIII I I I v ,IAJVENTOR. Mm Q SCHWEEQS UnitedStates Patent 3,416,250 METAL SLIDE MAGAZINE Karl D. Schweers, SpringValley, N.Y., assignor to Airequipt Inc., New Rochelle, N.Y., acorporation of New York Filed Mar. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 536,910 3 Claims.or. 40-49 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A metal magazine for storing andexhibiting photographic slides formed of two principal portionsincluding a top member having an integral depending side plate anddepending end flanges and a bottom member having integral upstanding endplates which cooperate with and are fastened to the end flanges of thetop member. Slide accommodating channels are formed in the magazine byinwardly bent tabs formed by transversely slotting of the top and bottommembers. Slide retaining means are formed by cutting the bent tabmembers transversely and longitudinally to form yieldable spring fingerswhich are bent into the channels between the tab members.

The present invention relates to an improved tray or magazine forstoring and exhibiting transparent slides such as, for example, thewellknown 35 mm. transparencies mounted in cardboard and moreparticularly to an improved magazine of this type made of sheet metal.

Slide holding magazine formed of metal have been found to have desirablequalities not found in other types such as molded plastic trays whichmake the metal trays preferable in many instances for use in displayingand storing transparent slides. A particularly useful metal magazinedesign, for example, is shown in United States Patent No. 2,711,602owned by the assignee of the present invention. A metal magazine of thisgeneral design is extremely compact and rigid and imprevious to moistureand temperature changes and thus provides a permanent and protectivestorage means which holds a maximum number of transparencies in minimumspace.

While incorporating the above advantages and particularly the advantageof small overall size, metal magazines have heretofore been somewhatmore ditficult to manufacture than molded plastic trays with acorresponding storage capacity as it has been necessary to form themagazines from a relatively large number of metal parts riveted orotherwise fastened together. This not only required a large number ofmanufacturing steps but also required a somewhat complex assemblyoperation not well suited for automatic operation. It also provided afinished magazine Whose relatively large number of individual partspresented additional opportunities for assembly error or damage duringuse.

The present invention provides a metal magazine including all thefeatures and advantages of a metal magazine of a design such as the onereferred to in the above mentioned patent and at the same timesubstantially reducing the number of parts so that, for example, atypical metal magazine may now be formed from only three parts where theminimum number of parts used in previous magazines amounted to a dozenor more. It will be clear from the following description that thesimplified magazine substantially reduces the complexity of the parts3,416,250 Patented Dec. 17 1968 ice formation and assembly and alsolends itself to ready assembly in its final form by a relatively simpleautomatic operation.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide animproved metal slide holding magazine.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a slide metalholding magazine having a minimum number of parts.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a metal magazineadapted for automatic assembly.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a more easilymanufactured slide holding magazine.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a metal slidemagazine of improved construction with improved wearing qualities.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings,forming a part of the specification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the completed magazine illustratingindividual slide holders in the magazine compartments;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the three sections of themagazine;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are vertical sectional views partially cut away of amagazine illustrating successive steps in the magazine assembly;

FIG. 5 is a rear elevational view of the assembled magazine partiallycut away;

FIG. 6 is a vertical end view partially in section of the assembledmagazine; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the top portion of analternate embodiment.

FIGS. 1 and 6 illustrate an assembled metal magazine in accordance withthe present invention. The magazine 1 includes a rigid top 2 and abottom 3 having inturned channel-like edge portions 4-7. The top 2 andbottom 3 extend between end plates 8. This box-like structure isprovided with a series of slide receiving compartments defined byopposing upper and lower partition members 9 and 10 best illustrated inFIGS. 2 and 5 which receive the upper and lower portions of individualslide holders 11 (FIG. 1).

These slide holders 11 preferably are metal frames as illustrated inFIG. 1 with a frame-like center portion 12 and upper and lower slidetransparency receiving channels 13 and 14 which are proportioned to beslidably received between the upper and lower partition members 9 and10.

The slide holders 11 are resiliently held in position in the magazinecompartments by spring fingers 15 extending into each compartment forlightly engaging each holder 11 to prevent its unintentional removalfrom the magazine 1- FIG. 2 illustrates preferred embodiments of thethree units which form the entire magazine as described above.

A bottom unit 16 is formed from a plate or strip of metal such asaluminium which is cut and formed to the shape illustrated in a seriesof stamping and forming steps.

The flat plates is first cut or blanked out to form a shaped blankincluding the bottom 3 and connected end plates 8. Material for thechannels 6 and 7 is provided on opposite sides of the bottom 3.Sufficient border material is also provided on the end plates 8 forproviding end flanges 18. In the blanking out of the channel 7, a seriesof teeth 19 are cut to form the magazine indexing rack for engaging anindexing gear on the projector.

The partition members 10 are also cut and bent by a suitable die eitherin the first blanking step or in later forming steps. Subsequent formingsteps shape the flanges 18 on the end plates 8 and form the channels 6and 7. The bottom units 16 is ready for the magazine assembly when theend plates 8 are bent to their vertical position as illustrated in FIG.2.

During the above formation of the end plates 8 of the bottom unit 16,assembly holes 17, false rivet heads 20', end panels 21, and othershaped portions such as cam clearance grooves 22 are cut and shaped. Thegrooves 22 permit the magazine to move past cams in the projector suchas are used to fully return slide holders 11 to the magazinecompartments.

The top unit 23 is blanked and formed by a similar series ofmanufacturing steps. A fiat metal plate is blanked and formed to providethe top 2 with its channels 4 and and an integral side plate 24 and endflanges 25 and 26. As is clear from the illustration of channel 5 inFIG. 2, the channel 5 is formed from material provided between the top 2and the side plate 24. The partition members 9 are formed as well asthree extruded rivets 27 which are outwardly directed from the endflanges (FIGS. 2 and 3) to engage the holes 17 in the bottom unit 16.

Final forming steps shape the top unit to the generally L-shaped crosssection as illustrated in FIG. 2 with the flanges 4 and 5 formed andwith end flanges 25 and 26 bent into a common plane at right angles tothe top 2 and the depending side plate 24.

The third unit of the assembly comprises the leaf spring 28 having theindividual spring fingers 15 connected by connecting portion 29 and alsoincluding a generally U- shaped flange 30 having an anchoring lip 31 forattaching the leaf spring 28 to the top 2 of the assembled magazine 1 asnow will be described.

It will be seen that the above described bottom unit 16, top unit 23 andleaf spring 28 include all the elements of the slide magazine with theexception of the individual slide holders 11 if they are used. The basicmagazine 1 is therefore completed when these three units are assembledand fastened together. The assembly process is illustrated in and willbe described with reference to FIGS. 3 through 6.

FIG. 3 shows the initial placement of the bottom unit 16 and the topunit 23. These two units are easily placed in these relative positionsin a suitable assembly device with the bottom units 16 and the top units23 being fed intermittently to the assembly fixture by a suitableautomatic feed device. After the top and bottom units 16 and 23 arearranged as shown in FIG. 3, these units are fastened together bypressing the end plates 8 inwardly so that the extruded rivets 27 passthrough the associated holes 17 in the end plates 8. This portion of theassembly operation is completed by flattening the rivets 27 intoengagement with the outer surfaces of the end plates 8. This provides acompleted magazine frame with top 2, bottom 3, end plates 8 and sideplate 24 firmly fastened together in a rugged magazine structure.

The magazine assembly is now completed by moving the leaf spring 28 intoposition adjacent the magazine top 2 with an individual spring finger 15projecting into each slide receiving compartment. As described above,the leaf spring 28 has initially been shaped with the flange member 30proportioned to surround and frictionally engage the correspondingflange 4 on the magazine top 2. In attaching the leaf spring 28 on theflange 4, the short anchoring lip 31 is preferably fully shaped topermit the leaf spring 28 to be snapped into place.

The cooperating flanges 4 and 5 and the top sections of the end flanges18 provide an index card receiving frame as the upper portion of each ofthese flanges is slightly spaced from the magazine top 2. As a finalstep in the magazine assembly, a suitable paper indexing card with orwithout a transparent protective film may be snapped into place beneaththese flanges.

Another embodiment of the improved magazine is illustrated in FIG. 7.This embodiment provides a further reduction in the number of piecesrequired for a magazine of this type by including the spring means forholding the slide holders 11 in place in the magazine in the top orbottom units of the magazine. The spring fingers are provided in thiscase as an integral portion of the partition members 9 or 10 in the top2 or bottom 3. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, a spring 15' isformed by a transverse and a longitudinal cut in the partition 9permitting a spring finger 15 to be bent inwardly of the slide holdingcompartment to resiliently engage a slide holder 11. It is clear that amagazine including this type of spring requires only two principalparts, i.e., a top unit and a bottom unit. A similar spring may also beformed in the bottom partitions 10 for use together with a spring 15' ina top 2 or a spring may be provided only on the bottom partitions 10..

It will be seen that an improved and simplified magazine design has beenprovided for an efficient compact metal slide holding magazine. Theimproved design is particularly advantageous in its reduction of thenumber of separate parts required in the assembly of the magazine andalso in the manner in which the parts are shaped so that the smallernumber of parts and their convenient arrangement permits the magazine tobe completely assembled in a few simple assembly steps. These steps areparticularly well suited for an automatic magazine assembly operation inwhich suitable jigs align and assemble the portions of the magazine asthe parts are fed from convenient stacks or unit supply hoppers.

The above advantages of simplified and easy assembly have been achievedin a metal magazine design which combines light weight, ruggedstructure, compact size, and pleasing appearance.

As various changes may be made in the form, con

struction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of itsadvantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A metal slide holding magazine comprising the combination of aone-piece top unit having a top portion and an integral side platedepending from one side of the top portion and end flanges dependingfrom opposite ends of the top portion, said plate and flanges being atright angles to said top portion, a one-piece bottom unit having abottom portion and integral end plates extending from opposite ends atright angles to said bottom portion, each of said units being providedwith a plurality of transversely extending integral inwardly projectingmembers forming a plurality of spaces for receiving upper and lowerportions of slides, each of said transversely extending members having atransverse cut and longitudinal cut forming from each of said members ayieldable spring finger extending inwardly into one of said spaces withits free end facing said integral side Plate to resiliently engage aslide in said space.

2. A magazine as claimed in claim 1 in which one of said top and bottomunits has projections thereon and the other has accommodating holestherein whereby the units are fastened together.

3. A magazine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the in- Wardly projectingmembers are tabs defined by transversely sloting said units.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,711,602 6/ 1955 Wiklund 40792,931,115 4/1960 Pester et al. 4079 3,023,669 3/1962 Hall 40-79 X 63,045,816 7/1962 King 40-79 X 3,159,934 12/1964 Wiklund 4079 FOREIGNPATENTS 173,758 12/1960 Sweden.

EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner. R. CARTER, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

